


Unforeseen

by orphan_account



Category: Epic (2013), The Borrowers - All Media Types
Genre: AU, F/M
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2013-06-09
Updated: 2013-08-11
Packaged: 2017-12-14 09:24:08
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 9
Words: 13,968
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/835324
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/orphan_account/pseuds/orphan_account
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>For almost as long as she can remember her father has been obsessed with the forest. MK halfheartedly puts up with his constant trips outside and his more recent, strange theories about people living there, and is content to stay indoors and utilize the Borrowing skills taught to her by her mother.</p>
<p>Until her father leaves one morning, and doesn't come back.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

Several minutes outside of town on a hill that backs onto a conservation area there is a quaint, two story house that's been passed down through generations. The current owners are an eclectic, decent couple who never seem to notice when things go missing.

Which is very good for the _other_ occupants of the house.

x-x-x

"Mary Katherine! Mary Katherine!"

MK rolls her eyes, half fond and half exasperated, before turning to her father who's stumbled into their home under the floor boards with his usual lack of finesse.

"Welcome home dad."

Bomba seems even more excitable than he normally is after tripping around in the underbrush, which can only mean one thing.

He thinks he's 'found' something.

"You'll never believe what I found this time!"

She sighs. Her dad's obsession with the forest had been far more tolerable when she was younger and he'd only be gone for a day or two at a time. He would return with wondrous stories about the plants and animals he'd observed, and he'd Borrow paper and coloured pencils just to show her what he'd seen. Back in those days, when her mother was still alive, she thought that one day she'd start tagging along with him into the great outdoors.

All these years later and she's never ventured further than the yard.

Speaking of which...

"Did you remember to go through the garden on your way back in?"

"Wha- oh! Yes, of course. I dug up a carrot and brought in a bay leaf, I left them in the kitchen."

"Great, I'll get started on lunch then," She rolls up her sleeves and heads for the kitchen, her father clumsily trailing after her.

"Wait, I've got something to show you Mary Katherine!"

She unhurriedly searches through their makeshift drawers for the replaceable head of an exacto-knife and begins slicing the carrot into chunks to store away.

"Dad, I know that I've told you that I-"

"Go by MK now, right, but it's hard to change an eighteen year old habit."

He wraps his arms around her and pulls her to his chest. She drops the exacto-knife and leans into the embrace.

Even when she was younger there was always a worry that one day her father would never make it back home. It's intensified now that he leaves for longer periods, sometimes up to five days, so even though she hates that he's always leaving her behind the relief she feels when he comes home safe wipes most of her ill will away.

"Alright, what's this thing you've found, then?"

Bomba's off like a shot, stumbling towards his pack, and MK tries her very best to look interested.

He's brought things home before; dead twigs that look vaguely like arrows, two pieces of something that could have possibly once been a bow, the last time he'd been out he brought back the top of an acorn, swearing it was a helmet.

Today he pulls out-

-an animal skin.

"Dad, why would you bring that inside? Put it away, it's probably infested!"

"Don't be silly Mary Ka- MK! Look at it closely!"

She'd really rather not, she's already indulged her father's crazy beliefs enough as it is, but she dutifully steps forward, reaching out, and her father hands it over with far more delicacy than she thinks such a thing deserves.

Just touching it is enough to give her goosebumps; the fur is rough, the skull is attached, and it smells of decay. She wants so badly to just drop it, set a match to it and watch it burn. MK clenches her eyes shut and resists the urge to be sick. She's not afraid of heights or jumping from them, she's not afraid of getting caught or trapped or squashed, but holding this dead _thing_ in her hands is enough to make her feel nauseous. 

"Dad, I really don't think-"

"Look closer, can't you see? There are stitches."

She warily opens one eye and looks down to where her father's hand is pointing; her eye locks onto a small, uneven line of stitches. She opens her other eye to get a closer look because it _is_ kind of strange, but Bomba takes it out of her hands and begins to put it on.

"Dad, stop that! You don't know where it's been!" She halfheartedly attempts to snatch it from him, but he's already shrugged it on like it's an elaborate cloak and she really doesn't want to touch it again.

"Look! They cut it and stitched it back up so that they could have sleeves. Isn't that cool?"

"No dad, it's gross, and you've got the skull of a dead rat on your head."

"I know, just think about it, I bet the bone acts as an even better helmet than the acorns." Bomba clasps his hands together, downright gleeful. "You know that river I've been telling you about? I went downstream instead of up this time and managed to find this."

"Dad," MK starts softly, but her father's already too far gone to hear her.

"I'm sure if I continued on downstream I'd find more evidence, maybe even a settlement! There are other people our size living in that forest and they are not Borrowers, Innies _or_ Outies."

"That's great dad, in a couple of weeks you can go back out and search down there. Now take that thing off."

"A couple of weeks," he repeats incredulously, "Mary- MK, this is the closest I've ever been to finding these forest dwellers. I'm going back out tomorrow."

"What?" He never, ever goes out again right after he's come back.

"And this will probably be my longest excursion to date."

MK tries not to stumble back, but she feels like her strength is being sapped. 

"Dad, you can't just-"

"Gosh, I'd better start preparing, I'm going to have to pack more than usual."

"Dad, please listen to me, I don't want-"

"Oh, I can't wait to set out again. The Beans still store their batteries in the same place, right?"

He dashes out before MK can stop him, let alone answer. The sudden stillness of the room makes her feel more isolated and alone than usual. She slowly crouches down, rests her forehead against her knees and lets out a frustrated hiss through clenched teeth.

It's at times like this that she wishes harder than usual that there were other Borrowers still living in this house. She can never get through to her dad when he gets going, maybe if there were more of them around they'd be able to hold an intervention, or physically bar him from leaving.

She stands back up and shakes herself out before turning her attention back to the carrot.

If she cuts it up with more force than necessary, well, it's not like anyone's around to see it.

Later that night MK swiftly climbs up through the walls, using bare nails as a ladder and occasionally jumping from one to another when the distance is too far for her to reach. She's been doing this for years now and she knows this entire house like the back of her hand, just like she knows how much force she needs to use when she pushes off so that she doesn't end up falling to her death.

Her first stop, as always, is the kitchen. She pushes back a panel of decorative moulding that had been turned into a doorway by others long before she was born and latches her fish-hook into a worn out groove in the wood. She looks around the room carefully to make sure there are no Human Beans in sight and after she ensures that the embroidery thread attached to her hook is secure she lowers herself onto the countertop.

Once she reaches the counter MK mentally goes over everything she needs and lets her eyes track over to their typical locations to make sure everything is where it should be.

"Alright MK, easy things first, then work your way up to the hard stuff," she reminds herself before dashing over to the sugar bowl. 

The night goes as it usually has over the past year. MK is more than capable of Borrowing alone, but being on her own means multiple trips back and forth since she can't carry everything all at once. It makes her long for the still, quiet nights where she and her mother would work together and her father would sometimes tag along to be and extra set of hands.

Those days are long gone. Nowadays if her father goes off on his own to Borrow something, it's for his trips to the forest and nothing else.

When she finally brings the last of her haul home after spending hours scurrying around she flops down onto her bed, a small gift box that her mother had lined with cotton balls and scraps of fabric, and snuggles under a badly knit, failed attempt at a scarf that one of the Human Beans had tried to make last Christmas and had promptly forgotten about.

It feels like she's only just closed her eyes when her father shakes her awake, and though she's tired and grouchy she's somewhat pleased that he's at least decided to wake her up to say goodbye this time. She cracks open her eyes and sees that her father is once again wearing that terrible rat skin, so she snaps them shut again.

MK blindly reaches for him and manages to grab onto one of his hands, holding it tightly.

"Don't be gone for more than a week."

Bomba squeezes her hand back. "I'll try."

"Promise me dad, no more than a week, please."

"Alright." He leans in and presses a kiss to her forehead. "I managed to dig that old remote control car out of the garage. There's a fairly smooth rabbit trail I usually enter the forest through, so I should be able to shave off some time using that."

"That's good." She wants to stay up, but she can already feel herself going back to sleep. Her grip on her father's hand weakens. "Stay safe."

"I will."

"I love you."

"I love you too, Mary Katherine."

Then he lets go.


	2. Chapter 2

MK has spent so much of her life waiting; waiting to be old enough to start Borrowing, waiting for the coast to be clear, waiting for her father to come home, that she's very adept at being productive while alone.

She gathers up some of the embroidery thread and sewing needles that she took not long ago and begins to knit, a skill her mother taught her long before she was old enough to leave home on her own. It's been a long time since she made herself new clothes, and she enjoys the thought of making something specifically for herself instead of repurposing old dolls clothes or sewing scraps of fabric together.

The thread she uses is a stormy grey-blue, dark enough to hide in the shadows but not too dark to draw attention, and over the course of four days she makes herself a long sweater that she can wear over her old, faded black trousers.

During the next two days she cleans their home from the underside of the floorboards to the cold concrete foundation, Borrows, and plans how to tell her father that she never wants him to be gone this long ever again.

When the sun rises on the seventh day she can hardly keep still and so she spends the entire day restlessly patrolling the house before climbing up to the attic to look through the window and keep an eye out for the remote control car her father had Borrowed.

Night falls and the car is nowhere in sight.

MK slips back down to their home, just in case her father came back on foot, but he isn't there.

"It's alright," she tells herself, "he probably lost track of time."

He's done it before, promised to be back in two days but came home in three or four. The knowledge of that does little to ease her anxiety.

When the eighth day passes with no sign of him she tells herself that he's just being his usual self, getting easily distracted and loosing track of the time. Or maybe he Borrowed batteries that were already low, so coming home was taking him longer than expected.

When the ninth day dawns and he's still not back, she begins to lose hope.

Their home is deathly quiet and she finds she can't bring herself to speak, not when she's the only one around to hear herself. She feels like a ghost, cursed to wander the insides of the house without ever having contact with anyone ever again.

She's never been alone for this long before. She hates it.

By the tenth day she feels so lonely that she almost wants to seek out a Human for company, even though that would likely end in her death.

She's heard of Borrowers being killed by wild animals. Her mother, in an effort to keep her from following her father outside as a child, would often tell her about one of her uncles who had been eaten by a bullfrog, and of course there were feral cats, rats, and who knows what else prowling around. Just because her father had kept out of harm's way for all these years didn't mean he wouldn't get caught.

But what if he was trapped somewhere? What if he'd fallen down an abandoned rabbit hole and broken his leg, crying out for help that would never come until a snake took notice and slithered in and-

MK buries her head in her hands and blinks rapidly, trying to keep herself from crying.

She can't just leave him, even if there is only a small chance that he is still alive.

MK gathers together her usual Borrowing supplies; the fish hook and embroidery thread, a keyring flashlight with a compass on the end, along with an extra battery, a couple matches and food. She debates on bringing a swiss army knife, just in case she runs into anything unsavoury, but it's too bulky for her to use as a weapon. She opts for a needle instead, the weight of it is familiar in her grip and it'll do as a makeshift sword in a pinch. Then she roots around for her fathers old drawings, sorting out the ones of edible plants, and stuffs everything into her pack. It's much heavier than she's used to, but she'll manage somehow.

On the eleventh day MK goes beyond the garden of her home for the first time in her life, and steadily makes her way towards the forest beyond.

The trip through the grassy yard takes more time than she'd thought. The forest looms ahead of her like an impenetrable wall of trees and she wonders how her father could just walk inside and not worry about how incredibly vast it is. After over an hour of jogging she reaches the edge of the yard and carefully wonders the perimeter, on the lookout for any sort of path.

It takes some time, but she eventually finds the rabbit trail her father talks about when he goes on about his hikes through the underbrush. She rushes along it, occasionally checking her bearing on the compass, and tries to recall everything her father ever told her about the usual path he takes.

In retrospect she wishes she'd paid more attention to him, but there's nothing she can do about it now. All that she can do is keep along the trail and hope that she comes across something that jogs her memory. If she doesn't...

MK doesn't even want to think about the possibility that she won't find anything that will help her trace her father's footsteps. He may be a bit inattentive at times, but he must have had a way to mark off places he had and hadn't been.

He must have.

She slows down to make sure she doesn't miss anything and keeps an eye out for anything unnatural. A thumb-tack stuck in the ground, a discarded battery, a carving in the tree bark.

She finds nothing.

Before she knows it it's nightfall and she climbs up the rough bark of a tree and falls into an uneasy sleep on the lowest branches. She wakes up feeling drained, even more tired than she was before she went to sleep, but she pushes onwards.

MK slows down even more, searches behind every leaf and blade of grass, desperate to find a clue instead of just blindly rushing forward in what could be the wrong direction. Her father never told her how long he followed the rabbit trail, and frankly she's not sure if she's even on the trail anymore. She turns around and everything looks the same, even with a compass she could get lost so easily. Maybe she'll end up like her dad and never reach home again.

"No, don't think like that," she whispers to herself, trudging forward through a veil of fronds into a very heavily shaded bit of underbrush-

-and nearly walks straight into a large puddle.

She leaps back, not eager to get muddy when she's only got one pair of clothes, and edges around the puddle until she finally reaches the other side where, preserved in the perpetually damp soil, is a set of tracks.

Not any sort of natural tracks, small tire tracks.

"Oh, thank heavens," she collapses with relief and presses her hand against the soft ground. The tracks are very clearly going straight ahead, and while he may have turned somewhere or gone on foot not long after passing this point, at least she finally has some proof that she is going in the right direction.

And, since there is only one set of tracks, she can surmise that if he did start coming back, he never got this far.

She takes a short break to eat, but no matter how thirsty she's beginning to feel there's no way she's drinking from an oversized mud puddle. She scrounges around in search of a dewy leaf, hoping against hope that the shade would have kept any water from evaporating. She finds none, so she digs a chunk of carrot out of her pack. 

At least she'd had enough forethought to bring along food that would give her some hydration. If all she'd brought along were crackers she'd probably be side-eyeing that puddle pretty hard.

Once she's done eating she treks on, following the direction of the tire tracks, and looks for any sign of the bright red car. The trail is already beginning to get rough and he can't have gone too much farther with it.

Against her better judgment she continues searching when night falls, turning on her small flashlight and creeping along quietly.

"Come on, please, just let me find that car."

An owl hoots in the distance and she cringes, then she hears a soft rustling behind her and nearly shrieks.

She turns off the flashlight after that, too scared that it will draw attention to her. Sneaking through a house is a lot different from creeping around in the great outdoors, she doesn't know how her father could stand being out here for days at a time, one wrong move away from getting eaten.

MK hears more shuffling and can't bear to stay on the ground any longer. She once again climbs up the trunk of an old, mostly dead, tree and doesn't stop climbing until she's at the top, barely supported by the thin branches. She grabs a browning leaf and huddles under it. Nothing bigger than herself can follow her up this high, but there are still birds to worry about.

She drifts in and out of sleep, too keyed up and paranoid to really go under, and when her eyes tiredly flutter open at first light she takes advantage of her vantage point to try and search for any unnaturally bright red splotches of colour in the area or, even better, the sparkle of water.

Even if she doesn't find the car, if she can find the river her dad always talks about then she's halfway to finding him. He never strays far from the river's side, at least from what he's told her.

When she catches a faint bloom of red she almost falls off of her tree branch.

She climbs down as fast as possible and heads for where she thinks the red was, backtracking quite a ways, ducking past fronds and dodging poison ivy until finally she comes across the car in all of its glory, the remote control serenely left on the roof.

"Alright, I've found the car, but now what do I do?" Her lips purse together and she feels so frustrated. Time is wasting and she wishes she knew exactly what direction her father took off in. Maybe if she fans out she'll be able to find animal trails leading to a water source.

She sets out going North East, the foliage has just enough of a part to it that it could possibly be a pathway and she's finally starting to gain a little confidence in her venture. The first day was decidedly terrible but things are starting to finally look up.

She doesn't perceive the loop of vine that she so neatly steps into, but she most certainly does notice the way she's suddenly jerked up and flying upside-down through the air, coming to rest halfway between the ground and a tree branch. Even as disoriented as she is she notices a silvery flag, a colour that she is sure hardly ever appears in nature, spring into existence from where it had been hiding behind the leaves of the tree.

She's been caught.

MK struggles to get upright and manages to grab hold of the vine tied around her ankle, but it seems unusually slick and after not even a minute her grips loosens and she drops back down. The blood is rushing to her head and she tries desperately to control her breathing, but no matter how hard she tries she can't seem to get enough air.

Is this what happened to her father? Had he been captured by the very people he'd been seeking out for years? Taken and tortured and reduced to nothing but a pile of ash?

Only time would tell.


	3. Chapter 3

It feels like she's been hanging for an eternity, even though it's probably only been a couple of minutes, when in the distance she sees something flying her way.

MK struggles weakly as the thing- things- get closer. They appear to be a group of several small birds, maybe not even much bigger than her, but that's not a good enough reason to believe that they won't tear her apart and eat her up. 

She sees a glint of something and squints her eyes, not quite believe what she sees.

"I've been hanging upside down for too long," she murmurs to herself, "I'm obviously hallucinating."

Sure, in the back of her mind she knows that an animal certainly hadn't been able to set up a snare, but she's been a bit too preoccupied with her panic to think about what that really means.

She looks again.

There are definitely people riding on the backs of those birds, dressed predominantly in green armour and most of them are carrying bows. It seems as though her father was right about the other people living out here; he'd been right about everything and she'd never really given him a chance to explain all his reasonings to her, had just unenthusiastically allowed him to go out and look for people who really were there, even though she thought it was all for naught.

She wonders if he'd found them, or if they had found him, and if so what had happened to him. She looks at their armour and their weapons and feels even dizzier than before.

One of the birds darts away from the group and settles on the branch above her and its rider alights, crouching above her and staring down like she's a particularly interesting specimen. Maybe someone similar had looked down at her father the exact same way.

This is it, she clenches her eyes shut, this is when she dies.

"You don't look like a Boggan."

She opens her eyes to see that the young man above her has taken off his helmet to, apparently, stare at her more openly. She feels a rush of irritation at his ogling and grits her teeth against her blooming headache. Why couldn't he just kill her and be done with it, instead of gawking at her beforehand?

"I'm a Borrower," she grouses, although she's not sure if her voice carries enough that he can hear her.

Another bird lands and someone else, this one wearing more intricate armour, steps down onto the branch.

"Nod, stop staring and help me get the girl up," he commands and together they grab hold of the vine tied around her and start pulling her upwards while the other birds land on the ground below.

It's disorienting to be tugged and brought right side-up after spending so much time hanging mid-air, she stumbles against one of them, dizzy and weak-kneed, and tries to push away, not wanting to be anywhere near these strange people who could be the very reason why her father never came home. She stumbles to the side, dangerously close to the edge of the tree branch, and he reaches out for her hand and tugs her closer.

"Easy there, it's alright, you're okay now." He says in the sort of voice MK imagines you'd try and soothe frightened animals or scared children with. "We're not going to hurt you." 

MK opens her mouth, but she has so many questions it's hard to choose which one to voice first and a wave of disorientation rolls over her before she can ask anything. She stumbles forward, more or less shoulder-checking his chest, and he very loosely wraps an arm around her in an attempt to keep her steady.

"I told you the snares were a bad idea," the older one, who she's leaning against, says over her head, "Boggans aren't very bright, but they're not going to march right into our territory, alone, to be killed."

MK stiffens and glances down at the scabbard of the man holding her upright. She's not sure what a Boggan is, or what they look like, but if they take a good look at her and confuse her for one then she's a sitting duck.

"But I saw one! Not even two weeks ago, I swear!"

"So you've said, repeatedly, but all your snare's managed to catch is-" He pauses and looks down at her. MK tries to smile innocently up at him, though it feels more like a grimace, and the man's frown deepens. "No more traps Nod, I mean it."

"Fine, fine," Nod huffs before running a hand through his hair and sending a bright, charming smile MK's way. "I haven't seen you around before. I'm Nod." He reaches his hand out.

She leans away slightly, further into the chest of the other man, her eyebrows furrowing. Nod lets his hand drop, but his smile stays the same.

"So, what's your name?"

"MK," she mutters before turning to the man behind her. "Excuse me, sorry, but could you please-?" She waves her hand and he cautiously steps aside. "Thank you." She starts carefully walking towards the tree trunk, eager to have something solid and trustworthy to hold onto.

"Hey, wait, I'm sorry you got caught up in my trap! Let me make it up to you by giving you a ride down."

She tosses an incredulous look over her shoulder. There is no way she is getting on one of those birds. "I prefer to climb." She runs her hands along the bark, easily finds all the rough juts to use as hand and footholds and begins climbing down the tree trunk quicker than she's ever managed before.

Her dad isn't crazy, she's still alive, and she's finally back on the ground, all she needs now is to find her father and it will be a perfect day.

Two birds land beside her and she jumps back, barely holding in a scream.

"Woah, it's just us." Nod jumps down and rubs at the back of his neck while his commanding officer goes to converse with the other members of their unit. "So, uh, sorry that you had to go through that, is there anything I could do to make it up?"

"Have you seen my father?" She inquires in a rush, because if they haven't killed her then they probably didn't kill him and she doesn't have the time to be overly cautious. "He's got red hair like mine and he stumbles around and talks to himself a lot, and if he caught sight of you anywhere you would know it because he would try to catch your attention right away."

"Um, no."

"He was wearing-" she cuts herself off, not exactly sure how to go about explaining just what her father had been garbed in when he left. It was probably best to just be straight forward. "He was wearing the skin of a dead rat with the skull attached."

Nod's eyes go comically wide. "No way! Is your dad a Boggan?" He begins to turn around. "Ronin-"

MK steps forward and grabs his shoulders, forcing him to face her. "We're not Boggans, whatever those are, we're Borrowers!"

"Borrowers?" His face scrunches up. "What's a Borrower?"

"I am. Look, have you seen my dad or not?"

"Yeah, I guess it must have been him. Almost two weeks ago I saw a Boggan- or what I thought was a Boggan- running around down in this area. That's why I set up the traps, you're the only one I caught though."

MK purses her lips. Nod may not have seen him again, but maybe someone else did. Her gaze drifts over to the other Leafmen and focusses on their bows.

"Please tell me you guys aren't a shoot first, ask questions later sort of group."

"What's that supposed to mean?"

"Never mind." She didn't really want to know. She had to think positive. He is still alive, he is still alive, he is still alive.

"Look, if you don't mind could you point me in the direction of the river? He should be somewhere along it." Hopefully.

"The river?" His smile is back, all carefree and oddly infuriating. If she'd met him when she wasn't in the middle of a crisis she'd probably be a bit love-struck from that smile, but right now she does not have the time for this. "You're really not from around here are y-"

"Nod, I want you to start dismantling all of the snares you set up. Don't come back to Moonhaven until it's done."

He turns and, for lack of a better word, pouts. "Aw, but Ronin-"

"Now."

"Fine."

They swap places, but at least Ronin seems to be a lot more serious. 

"You're looking for your father?"

She nods curtly.

"And he's wearing Boggan armour?"

"I don't know," she says dejectedly, "I've never seen Boggan armour before, I don't know what to compare it to. It was a rat skin with the skull attached, and there were some really crude stitches to give it sleeves. Dad was wearing it like a cloak."

Ronin nods to himself and his expression becomes a little more grim. "And you said he would be around the river?"

"Yes, he never goes far from it."

"Upstream or down?"

"He's recently started going downstream, that's where he found the cloak, so he wanted to try going further this time." Her heart clenches when Ronin's lips thin into a severe line. "Downstream is bad, isn't it?"

"Depends on how far he goes, but if he's been travelling on foot for two weeks-"

"One week, he was only supposed to be gone for one week. Sometimes he stays out longer than he means to, but he should have turned back and come home after five days at the most."

Ronin crosses his arms and narrows his eyes. "It's hard to say how far he would have gotten on foot. Is he very athletic, your father?"

She shakes her head. "Not really, and he'd rather go slow to make sure he doesn't miss anything."

"Wrathwood is a fair distance away, but if he saw something he found interesting would that have prompted him to keep going?"

"Yeah, if he thought he had a chance at finding anything, he would take it." She wearily rubs at her temples and Ronin nods to himself like he's come to a decision.


	4. Chapter 4

"Finn!" Ronin calls over his shoulder and a red bearded man walks towards them, sending a small smile MK's way before standing at attention.

"I want you to split the team in two; half will continue scouting the area as planned and if they see what appears to be a lone Boggan on foot they are ordered not to shoot and instead observe to see if it really is what it seems to be. If it's only someone in Boggan armour, approach with caution, inform them that their daughter is looking for them, and bring him back to base. The other half will come back with me to Moonhaven."

Finn nods curtly and sets out to complete his tasks while Ronin turns to her.

"If you would allow me to take you to Moonhaven I could get you an audience with the Queen, I am sure she would help you."

Queen? Her lips purse; she's not in the mood to be detained while some forest monarch weighs the pros and cons of sending out a search party.

"I don't think I have time for that," she protests, "if you would just drop me off at the river I could get out of your hair."

"If your father is still anywhere around this area my scouts will find him, if he is not we can assume that he is in Boggan territory and will put together a search and rescue party to find him."

MK furrows her eyebrows and wonders if others are normally this nice to people they've only just met. Her mother used to take her up to the library at night and read her stories about knights, pirates and, every once in a while, a damsel in distress who needed saving.

She may have been in distress, but she was sure she wasn't a 'damsel', and she needed help to find the river, not 'saving'.

"I know you don't want to stop searching and you feel like by leaving you're giving up, but you're not." Ronin assures her, he lifts a hand like he's about to clasp her shoulder, but he thinks better of it and lets it fall back to his side. "Once we get to Moonhaven and tell the Queen what's going on we'll be able to recruit some excellent trackers for your cause and we'll find your father in no time. You're not alone in this now. Many leaves, one tree."

She chews her lips apprehensively. The help would be appreciated, but what if they wanted something in return?

"Also I cannot, on good conscience, let you wander into Boggan territory alone." Ronin says with an air of finality and MK is torn. She wants so badly to stay and search, but what if it really would be worth her while to go with him? 

"Hey," Ronin's voice, a little softer than usual, interrupts her thoughts, "it's going to be alright. Now then, time's wasting, and we're already behind as it is."

MK's resolve firms. Whatever the price for their assistance is she'll pay it, just as long as she gets her father back.

"Okay, let's go."

"First things first, you'll need to get behind me." Ronin gracefully climbs back up into his saddle and extends his hand.

"Right, yeah, I can do that." MK approaches the brightly feathered hummingbird cautiously and when she's fairly certain the animal isn't going to try and peck at her she grabs onto Ronin's hand, leaps into the saddle and tightly wraps her arms around his midsection.

"Is this your first time flying?"

She nods weakly.

"Don't worry, we're a very steady set of flyers." He leans forward to pat at his mount's neck. "It may seem like a lot to take in at first, but it can be quite peaceful once you get used to it."

"If you say so."

Her arms tighten around him even more as they take to the sky and her eyes screw shut.

Once they stop ascending and even out it's not quite as bad as she thought it would be. There's still a faint flutter of panic because if she falls there are no nails, staples or support beams for her to reach out and grab ahold of, but she feels pretty secure, she's not just going to tumble out of the saddle for no reason.

She relaxes and lets her arms loosen a little.

Then MK looks down.

Her breath immediately catches in her throat. Even the couple of times she snuck out onto the rooftop she's never been so high. The trees below them form a vast, green carpet that blankets the hills for almost as far as the eye can see. She turns around, imagining she'll just be encompassed by a horizon of blue meeting green, and is surprised to find that she can still see the red bricks of the house in the distance.

It is small, and getting smaller by the minute, but the fact that it's still within her sight range after two whole days of traveling away from it is somewhat disheartening. 

She turns to focus on the view beyond Ronin's shoulders.

"You think your Queen will help me?"

"Queen Tara is a kind, noble leader," he responds, and he at least sounds genuine, "I'm sure that after you tell her what's going on she'll be more than happy to provide assistance."

"And on the off chance that she doesn't? If she thinks it's too dangerous to send her people to Wrath, uh, what was it called?"

"Wrathwood."

"Right, what then? Will you at least drop me off at the river so I can continue searching on my own?"

Ronin glances back at her. "I told you before, I cannot let you go into Boggan territory alone. On the very slight possibility Her Majesty feels like she cannot ask it of her people to go to Wrathwood, I will volunteer my services and go with you."

"You'd do that for me? Why?"

"Because it's the right thing to do," he answers simply, and MK can't think of anything to say in response to that.

They spend the majority of the flight in silence and though MK isn't used to having to sit still for extended periods of time she manages to keep herself from shifting around too much by imagining how many seconds it would take for her to hit the ground should she fall.

"That's it up ahead."

She peers over Ronin's shoulder as the birds begin to descend into a clearing where a pale, tall rock formation juts straight up from the ground, surrounded by clear water.

It reminds her of stories about winsome castles surrounded by moats.

"It's beautiful," she sighs and Ronin once again glances back at her.

"Welcome to Moonhaven."

They land just outside of the rock formation and Ronin helps her down from the saddle before suggesting she leave her pack outside. She lets it slip from her shoulders and it lands on the ground with a muffled thunk, then she rolls her shoulders and stretches her arms upwards.

Ronin leans down to pick it up and looks briefly surprised by the weight of it; MK can't help the short burst of pride she feels. She may not look very strong, but she is a Borrower, she's used to having to scale up and down walls with several days worth of supplies strapped to her back.

After he secures her pack to the back of his hummingbird he marches forward, MK trailing behind him, and together they walk past two sets of guards flanking a plant that gently unfurls as they come closer, revealing a doorway into the rock.

Once they are inside Ronin begins to softly instruct her on the proper ways to greet royalty; tells her to kneel, be respectful, to not speak until she's been spoken to, things that MK could have guessed to do on her own.

"I realize this may be difficult given that you've only just recently been caught up in a snare, but don't be alarmed if anything starts curling around you. Her Majesty occasionally likes to misapply her powers."

She blinks slowly, digesting the information. "What do you mean, 'powers'?"

"She's the Queen of the Forest," Ronin answers simply, as though that explains everything.

"Right, I got it." The people living out in the middle of the forest had a magic Queen, good to know.

Her dad was totally going to flip about all of this once they got him back.


	5. Chapter 5

Ronin leads her into a tall room; flower stems stretching up from the floor and their petals forming a translucent, purple ceiling. He immediately kneels and she quickly does likewise, though she doesn't fall into position nearly as gracefully as he does.

"Your Highness," he hails and MK peeks up from behind her bangs to see if she can manage to get a glimpse of this Forest Queen, but all she can see is the bottom of a multilayered white dress and a pair of dainty feet clad in green slippers coming towards them. 

She quickly looks back down.

"Ronin," the Queen greets, her voice soft and melodic, "and who do we have here?"

MK's eyes stay glued to the ground until the slippered feet enter her field of vision, then she glances up and tries not to look too awestruck.

The woman in front of her certainly looks like a Queen. She's beautiful and graceful, with kind eyes and a sweet smile. She's not entirely sure what she had been expecting, but this wasn't it. This looks like someone who'd actually be willing to help her.

Ronin subtly nudges her and she snaps out of it.

"My name is Mary Katherine, Your Majesty. But I prefer to go by MK," she adds and winces at how juvenile she probably sounds.

"Well MK," the Queen bends slightly to take her hands and eases her up off of the ground, MK shuffles her feet and can't seem to keep her eyes focussed on one spot, "I prefer to go by Tara, if it's all the same to you."

She opens her mouth to ask if ignoring formalities is really such a good idea but quickly snaps it shut. She can't really go against what the Queen wants, can see?

"I don't believe I've seen you around before," Queen Tara leans in a little closer and MK barely resists the urge to step back. "You look troubled."

"Her father's gone missing," Ronin cuts in and Queen Tara's attention flicks over to him. "I have a couple of scouts out looking for him now, but we believe he may have entered into Boggan territory." 

"Why didn't you say so in the first place? You know formalities can be put on hold in times like these."

Tara slowly locks arms with MK and leads her further into the room, Ronin following behind silently.

"Tell me MK, how long has he been missing?"

"He left almost a fortnight ago, he should have come home after the first week was up."

"Does he go out often?"

Too often. "Yes, but he decided to go even further than usual this time. Sometimes- sometimes he'll stay out longer than he means to, but he promised me that he'd come home on time."

"And when he didn't come home, you set out to find him?"

She nods.

Queen Tara hums under her breath and comes to a stop, unwinding her arm from MK's and coming to stand in front of her.

"Ronin, if you would be so kind as to give MK and I some privacy."

"I'm not sure that's the best-"

"Ronin," she interrupts softly and they lock eyes for a moment, "just a couple of minutes, if you please."

He sighs but does as commanded, and MK watches him walk away nervously.

She might not have known him for very long, but his presence was soothing in these strange new situations she keeps getting herself into. She wishes he could have stayed.

A delicate hand on her shoulder interrupts her thoughts and she looks back to the Queen, who's regarding her with a sympathetic smile.

"Anyone who lives in this forest would know which parts of it are unsafe, where are you and your father from?"

"We live in a house, right by the edge of the conservation area, with the Humans. We, me and my dad, we're Borrowers, we, uh, Borrow things," she trails off lamely. "We're Innies, but there are Outie Borrowers too; when dad first thought there were people living in the forest, that's what I thought you might be, if you really did exist. But you're not, are you."

"No, I can't say that we are. My people and I are the Jinn." The hand on MK's shoulder moves to cup her face, and she leans into the touch slightly. It's comforting, almost motherly, and it's helping her not to feel so tightly wound.

"Does anyone else live with you in this house?"

"My mother used to, but she died over a year ago, and all the other Borrowers who used to live there are long gone. There's no one else." She blinks back a sudden onset of tears. She hasn't cried yet and she refuses to do so in front of someone. 

"He's all I have. Please help me find my dad."

"Shh, don't worry." Tara rubs her thumb along MK's cheek before pulling away. "I don't like having to order my Leafmen into invading enemy territory, but-" she quickly holds a finger up to MK's lips, "as long as there are volunteers who are willing to do so, they have my blessing to aid you in finding your father."

"Oh." MK could almost fall to the floor with relief, this took a lot less time than she thought it would. "Thank you, thank you so much Queen Tara."

"Don't thank me, dear, you're not as alone in this world as you think you are. Many leaves, one tree."

MK nods knowingly, even though she's not entirely sure what the Queen means.

"Besides, I have a feeling that the one you really need to thank is Ronin, he's probably gathering up forces at this very moment."

"He's been awfully good to me," MK concedes and Tara's smile widens a fraction.

"He is exceedingly sweet, once you manage to get past the rough exterior."

Queen Tara takes her by the arm again and they backtrack through the room, MK watching in fascination as the flowers they walk by seem to stretch and unfurl ever so slightly, like they're reaching out for the sun.

"Is it a good life, being a Borrower?" 

MK drags her attention away from the flowers to settle on the regal woman beside her.

"I think so. It doesn't seem as dangerous as living out here." Too many wild animals, too many places you couldn't go.

"Living with the Humans though, doesn't it get scary?"

"Oh no, not at all. They don't even know we're there. The first rule of being a Borrower is to never be seen."

"But does it get lonely?"

MK pauses and fiddles with her hands. "Well, yes, I suppose. Before I was born there were still a couple other families living in the house. One was seen and had to move all the way into town, and the other, well, mom used to say that they just disappeared overnight and no one knew what happened to them. I still had my parents though, and that was enough."

Tara hums under her breath again and MK chews at her bottom lip, not very fond of the quietness that falls over them.

It's one thing for her to be quiet when she literally has no one else to talk to, but now that there are other sentiment, seemingly trustworthy people around she finds she wants to fill up the silence. 

"Hopefully, once I find my dad and drag him back home, he'll stop going out so much since he'll finally have proof that there are others living out here." 

He probably wouldn't stop altogether, not after he'd been searching for so long, but maybe she could convince him that it would be for the best if he didn't leave so often.

Or maybe, she glances around once more at her surroundings, maybe she would accompany him every once in a while. To keep an eye on him, of course.

Tara escorts her all the way to the entrance of the room and silently stands with her, like a poised guardian, until Ronin appears. The two nod at each other, apparently familiar enough to communicate without words, and Tara gently nudges her forward.

"Good luck," she bids and MK throws a grateful smile over her shoulder before following Ronin out of the room.

His stride is long and he's walking faster than he was before, as if he's in a rush. MK jogs beside him and hopes this means he's focussing on their upcoming expedition.

"It would be unwise for us to take a large group into enemy territory, we'd be too easy to spot and more likely to lose track of each other, so I've only recruited three others."

That was still more help than MK ever expected.

"It's going to be dangerous and there's always a possibility that we'll run into Boggan scouts, so it's imperative that you stick close to me."

"I will."

He glances at her and slows down, just enough so that she can walk at a fast but comfortable pace beside him.

"Normally I wouldn't allow a civilian such as yourself to take part in a risky mission like this, but I suspect if I try to leave you here where it's safe you'll just find a way to follow after us."

"You'd be right. I'm grateful for the help, but I can't sit around and do nothing while my dad might be in trouble."

The corner of Ronin's lip twitches upwards in a barely-there smile that's gone so quickly that MK wonders if she imagined it.

"You'll be riding with me until we get close to the borderline of the river, once we find signs of your father's trail we'll keep on foot since we won't be able to track his movements from the air. We're going to need to be very discreet." 

"A Borrower is quiet, cautious, inconspicuous, alert, never seen and never heard," she quotes the adage, so often said to her by her mother, and this time MK's positive that she's not imagining Ronin's half smile.

"Then I'm sure we won't have a problem."


	6. Chapter 6

Of the three others coming with them one is Finn, who MK assumes is Ronin's second in command, another is Rowan, a renown tracker who's skin is a startling shade of yellow-green, and the last is a Leafwoman, Eira, who's been on several covert missions crossing between no man's land and the Jinn/Boggan borders.

They're almost ready to leave by the time Ronin and MK arrive back outside, and MK is almost taken aback by how well organized they are. She flicks a glance over at Ronin, who doesn't seem at all surprised by how easily his subordinates prepare themselves for their newest task.

They run like a well-oiled machine and she can't help but be impressed.

The things she could accomplish if she had one or two Borrowers like them assisting her at home.

She checks her bag to make sure everything's still intact before slinging it over her shoulders, then she glances over at the three others and can't help but notice they're not taking along a lot of provisions.

MK takes that as a good sign. They seem confident that this won't be a prolonged search, and she has to admit that the amount of ground the hummingbirds can cover in a few short minutes would probably take her the better part of a day. Finding her dad's initial trail may take them a bit of work, but once they have a clear path to follow everything will fall nicely into place, she's sure of it.

Ronin climbs atop his mount and once again gingerly extends a hand to help her up. MK takes it and settles down behind him.

"You ready?" He asks over his shoulder and she nods against his back.

"As I'll ever be."

He twists forward, signals the others with his hand, and tightens his grip on the reigns before lightly urging his bird upwards.

They fly in a diamond formation, Ronin in the lead, Rowan and Eira at the sides and Finn guarding the back. They follow along the river, swooping down a waterfall at an angle that makes MK clench her eyes shut and not open them again until she's sure there won't be anymore stunts like that.

Other than the initial drop the ride is smooth, and MK finds herself eyeing the distance between certain trees that they fly by and calculating how long it would have taken her to run from one to the other to pass the time.

They've already covered a several day long walk for her when Ronin's shoulders tense slightly.

"We're getting closer to no man's land," he announces, "we'll set down soon."

She curiously peers over Ronin's shoulder and in the distance she can barely manage to see bare, dead tree branches; bleached from the sun and reaching up to the sky like skeletal hands. MK tightens her arms around him.

"Is that Wrathwood?"

"It's the edge of it, yes, the closer we get the less life there will be."

That sounds incredibly morbid. MK wonders how a whole civilization of people could populate a place completely devoid of plant-life.

"That sounds like a terrible place to live."

"Well, Boggans aren't exactly known for their good taste."

The hummingbirds land in a reedy area by the river and everyone dismounts.

"This area is between our borders, it's likely that your father mostly stuck to this place if he never spotted, or was spotted by, anyone before." Ronin casts a glance around, as if he suspects there's something lurking in the reeds around them. "Did he mention any landmarks other than the river?"

"No, not that I can remember."

"Would he prefer to be closer to the water but out in the open, or have cover?" Eira asks and MK barely has to think before answering.

"Cover, he would definitely want cover."

Explorer or not, the need to stay hidden was ingrained into and taught to every Borrower from birth, he wouldn't have made camp anyplace that he could be easily spotted.

"That makes this a bit easier then." Eira knelt down in the soft silt by the water's edge and traced a line with her finger, MK hovered behind her anxiously while Rowan crouched down beside her. "The closer to Wrathwood the less cover he would have, so he'd have to move further into the woods to stay concealed. Closer to the Moonhaven border there are a lot of areas with cattails and tall grasses," she marked several x shapes along one half of the line, "we'll search through these places first and hopefully he'll have left some pretty clear signs."

"If he trekked through the tall grasses I'll definitely be able to find his trail, it's easy enough in regular conditions, and they become more brittle the further from Moonhaven we travel." Rowan muses before he and Eira stand up, Eira nodding in agreement.

"Boggan scouts are generally never on foot too, so anything that we can eliminate as an animal trail will most likely be him."

This sounds incredibly promising, and MK can't help but smile. Last night, all the hopelessness she'd felt while huddled up in the branches of a tree, seems so far away, even the brief stint in the snare seems like forever ago now. Her emotions have gone through a complete one eighty in a matter of hours.

She keeps to herself by the river's edge as Ronin goes over the plan with the others; Rowan and Eira will back track along the river, flying low to the ground to see if they can make anything out from a bird's-eye view, before systematically sweeping through the most likely areas someone would make camp. He and Finn will stay on foot and search through their current surroundings. Hopefully by the time the day is done, they'll have some solid evidence of where he'd headed.

Rowan and Eira are quick to head out, and MK wanders back over to Ronin's side, eager for instruction.

"Alright, what do you need me to do?"

Ronin and Finn share a quick look and MK's lips purse.

"If you're going to tell me to stay and watch the birds..." She trails off and frowns harder.

"It's not that. I was just wondering when the last time you've had a decent sleep was."

MK's eyebrows raise and she shrugs her shoulders carelessly, the past two days haven't been very restful, and she'd been anxiously tossing and turning long before she'd decided to step outside to find her dad.

"You look like you're running on adrenaline and nothing else."

"Your point?"

Ronin gives her a dry look. "You need sleep, tomorrow you'll be rested up enough that you can reach optimum performance, but you've had a long couple of days and need to recuperate."

She crosses her arms and kicks at the dirt idly. She is kind of tired, but she hates the thought of having other people searching while she does nothing.

"You said it would be safer for me to stay close to you." MK says in a last ditch effort and Ronin blinks at her, like he can't quite come up with a response to that.

Finn steps forward though, a small, soothing smile in place. "The reeds provide a lot of cover, Boggans are more active at night than during the day, we're close enough to Wrathwood that most animals will stay clear of here, and any who don't would keep away because of the hummingbirds. It's safe, and tomorrow when you're fully rested you can help all you want."

She wants to protest, but there's a fine line between persistent and obstinate and she doesn't want to annoy the people who've decided to help her by crossing it. 

"Alright, I'll sleep," she mutters and Finn cheerfully pats her shoulder and guides her over to the two remaining hummingbirds, dropping her off in between them.

She lays down on her back and rests her arms over her eyes.

"We'll try not to be long," Finn says before he lightly steps away.

MK takes a deep breath and forces herself to relax. There's a cool breeze coming off of the water, and it shifts through the reeds in a soft whisper of movement, barely there.

There's no suspicious creaking or ominous snaps, just the water and the wind and the occasional flutter of hummingbird wings.

She falls asleep within minutes.


	7. Chapter 7

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry this took so long, I've been very busy with work and life lately.

MK wakes up to the sound of tense, hushed voices. She blinks up at the sky, just beginning to turn a dark shade of blue, wearily, feeling more exhausted now than she had when she first went to sleep.

She sits up and twists, her back cracking loudly.

The whispers stop.

She turns tired eye to the group in front of her and finds them all staring at her which, okay, is a little bit unnerving, and then she blinks rapidly and becomes aware of the secretive way they had been speaking. It could have been because they wanted to be quiet and not wake her, but paired with the way they went completely silent when she got up...

A sickening feeling of dread begins to build up inside her.

"What's wrong?"

The four of them share a look that does absolutely nothing for her nerves before Finn steps forward.

"Do you recognize this?" He asks and holds something out for her to take.

It's the charred remains of a match.

"Yes! You guys don't have stuff like this right? So it was definitely my dad's! Where did you find it?"

"In a clearing, not very far from here," Finn explains, and he sounds as though he's being purposefully vague.

MK's heart leaps into her throat.

"You found it quickly, then? Why didn't you wake me right up?"

Finn throws a look over his shoulder and Ronin steps forward, holding his hands up with palms out in what is obviously supposed to be a soothing gesture, but it just makes MK even more tense.

"MK," he begins, and she can already tell from the tone of his voice that she's not going to like what he has to say, "near the clearing we found that in there are signs of a struggle. Rowan says there must have been at least three others, and the trail heading away from there leads straight to Wrathwood."

"Can you- do you have any idea if he was-" She folds her arms around herself and fights to keep her voice steady. "Was he alive when he was taken?"

"There was no blood at the scene, no trace of any used weapons, but that doesn't mean we should ignore the possibility."

MK squeezes her eyes shut. She's not going to cry, not here, not now. Her father was still alive when he was taken, so there's still at least a sliver of hope.

But what could have happened to him, trapped in that horrible, dead place? What if he hadn't lasted, and was already dead?

"There's too much activity in Wrathwood during the night for us to go there as we are and not get captured, but at first light we'll slip inside. Hopefully we'll find a definitive answer."

MK takes a deep, steadying breath. She still has allies willing to work with her to get her father back, even though it's looking less likely by the minute.

"First light," she repeats to herself softly.

It's only several hours away, but each second that passes by when she knows that her father is probably locked up in some sort of medieval, underground dungeon is an unending agony.

"Try to go back to sleep," Ronin softly bids her, "I'll take first watch."

The others grab their packs and settle down for the night, but MK finds herself sitting next to Ronin, staring out across the river blankly. He doesn't seem surprised, they were probably expecting her to not be able to sleep after they gave her the news. That's why they didn't wake her up immediately.

"Why do you think they took him?"

"Far be it from me to try and interpret the actions of Boggans," Ronin begins steadily, sending her a glance out of the corner of his eye, "but it may have to do with the Boggan armour he was wearing. They might have thought he was a spy and decided to take him in for questioning."

"What kind of questioning?"

Ronin glances away, and the action says 'you don't want to know' louder than any words could manage.

"Do you think there's any chance that he's still alive?"

He sighs and very, very slowly takes one of her hands in his own. "Trying to speculate will only drive us crazy."

"That's sounds like a no." Her voice raises in pitch towards the end, and she can feel her eyes tearing up again.

Ronin awkwardly holds her hand tighter and turns more fully towards her. "We have to be ready for the possibility-" he cuts himself off when MK makes a chocked off sob. Tears are starting to steadily streak down her face and she can't seem to stop them.

She doesn't even care about trying to stop them anymore.

"I don't want to be alone," she says, voice trembling.

She wouldn't be able to stand it. All alone in that house, the ghost of her parents haunting her footsteps. No one to talk to, no one to hold on to, no one at all.

"You're not alone," Ronin's grip on her hands becomes almost painful, but MK finds she doesn't really mind, at least the pressure grounds her. "If worse comes to worse you could stay in Moonhaven. It's not what your used to, but in time I'm sure..." He trails off.

"If worse comes to worse." She agrees, rubbing at her eyes with her free hand.

She feels a bit better, now that she's cried herself out again, and she gently squeezes Ronin's fingers in silent thanks.

He turns back towards the water quickly, his grip loosens but he doesn't pull his hand away.

"Trespassing into Wrathwood is going to be dangerous."

"I can handle it."

Ronin hums under his breath. "Can you handle a sword?"

She glances down at Ronin's scabbard. "Well, I don't have a sword, but a do have a needle."

She rises from her place beside him and dashes over to her pack, grabbing the needle that she'd impaled through the side of the fabric. When she returns she holds it out to Ronin, who takes it without question and gazes down at it in interest before testing the sharpness of the tip with the pad of his thumb.

"Do you know how to use this as a weapon?"

"Uh, in theory, yes?" It's not like she's actually used it to defend herself, but it doesn't seem like it would be too difficult to use. Stab with the pointy end, essentially.

"It's more like a rapier than any other type of sword, so you'll have to focus on thrusting attacks, but it doesn't have a hilt, so your wielding hand will be unprotected."

"Should I worry about my wielding hand?"

Ronin stands and hands the needle back over. "In a perfect world you wouldn't even have to worry about using this at all, but even during daylight we're bound to run into trouble." He slowly walks in a circle around her, looking her up and down in a way that makes her stand straighter before he comes to a stop in front of her.

"I'm not used to using a sword with a pointed tip instead of a blade, but I could give you some some basic tips, just to be on the safe side."

"That would be," awesome, "much appreciated."

Ronin quirks his lips at her, but quickly schools his expression.

"First things first, we'll need to work on your stance."


	8. Chapter 8

Ronin goes over the basics; extensions, lunges and ripostes, and though MK has never really practiced sword-play and is a bit out of her depth, he doesn't make her feel any lesser for being a beginner. He also doesn't make her feel like she's going to somehow trip up and ruin the entire rescue mission, which she appreciates more than she could ever express in words.

He tells her about Boggan armour; what different varieties there are, what they're made of, their weak points. Animal hide is the most common, but they also use exoskeletons and bones whenever they manage to find it.

"Your needle will only be able to pierce the hide, so be sure to steer clear of anything else."

He delves into more detailed explanations of their usual attack formations, about the archers she'll need to be on the lookout for and the cudgels that the majority of them wield.

Ronin is just beginning a detailed explanation of what, exactly, their weapons could do to her if they so much as grazed her, when he is interrupted by a muffled cough.

They both turn to see Finn looking at them in barely-concealed amusement.

"It's time for me to take second watch," he states placidly, and the way his eyes flick between them makes MK's cheeks feel warm and she shifts away slightly so she's not quiet as close to Ronin as she was before.

She goes back to her pack and embeds the needle into its side, then lays down beside Eira and folds her hands over her stomach, staring up at the night sky while Finn and Ronin whisper at each other.

Sleep comes more slowly this time around, she's too keyed up for dawn to come and too unused to being so restless to be able to just drift off like she did before. So she closes her eyes and listens to the whispering of Ronin and Finn, and when they stop she strains her ears to hear the light shuffle of movement that signifies that Ronin is finally settling down. Then everything is silent except for the wind weaving through the trees and the sound of her own breath.

MK awakens immediately when a hand brushes her shoulder and she looks up to see Eira peering down at her. The sky above is still dark, the very edge of the horizon stained pink.

"It's time to go. We'll want to be as unburdened as possible, so leave anything that you don't desperately need here at base camp."

She nods and rifles through her pack, digging out one of her match-sticks and grabbing at her needle and sticking it through the edge of her sweater. Hopefully they will be all she needs.

She climbs up behind Ronin and they fly towards the edge of Wrathwood, stopping every couple of trees to quietly observe the sky above and ground below for any suspicious movement. 

When they come across the first grouping of dead trees they dismount from their hummingbirds, and swiftly climb down the trunk. Rowan and Eira lead the party, making sure to stay far away from obvious trails, and MK follows directly behind them with Finn and Ronin in the back.

MK is used to sneaking around in dark silence, but there is something weighty and pressing about the stillness that surrounds them now. She can't hear the flutter of wings, the buzz of insects, not even the wind anymore. It's unnerving, to only hear the sound of her own parties' footfalls.

She almost wants to make a comment about it being way too quiet, but no one else seems to be quite as unnerved by it as her, or they're at least better at hiding it, and she just can't bring herself to break the silence.

Ahead of her Eira pauses and holds out her hand, barring them from continuing on. They all stops and MK strains to hear anything over the sound of her own heartbeat racing in her ears.

A group of bats, at least five, fly almost directly above them. MK bites the inside of her cheek to keep from making any noise and watches them pass with trepidation. There are no Boggan soldiers mounted upon them, but considering what she knows of bats, their appetites and hunting methods, she'd almost rather there were.

They stay still for another minute after they've flown by, then Eira finally drops her hand and they continue forward in the exact same direction the bats were going.

MK grips her needle tighter.

Around them the grass becomes even more dry and brittle, until with every step they take it crumples under them and turns to little more than dust. Soon they run out of cover entirely, except for the occasional stump of a long-dead tree.

Ahead of them looms what could only be Wrathwood; a large bark-less stump that seems just as big as Moonhaven, and ten times as intimidating.

They gather behind a felled log and Eira once again crouches down to draw into the dirt.

"Wrathwood is mostly hollow, its inside is like a helix, spiralling down to all the different levels of rooms. No one's been inside long enough to get a good look around," she glances up at Ronin, lightning quick, before turning her attention back down, "but the general consensus is that their prisoners would be kept on a lower level."

Rowan steals a quick look in the fortress's direction before ducking back down.

"There are at least seven troops milling about from what I can see, two of them are mounted on ravens. If we go as a group we'll draw to much attention to our movement, we'll have to go one by one."

"No one is stepping out there alone, it's too dangerous to go single-file." Ronin states and Finn purses his lips thoughtfully.

"If I backtrack to the hummingbirds I could create a distraction, and while all the focus is on me you guys could manage to break in."

"One hummingbird against two ravens, those odds aren't in your favour."

Finn shrugs and MK cautiously speaks up.

"Well, we're essentially surrounded by dry wood and kindling, right? So if we want to create a distraction," she waves her match slightly, "we could start a fire."

"Fire spreads too easily here, there's a chance it could grow too big for anyone to handle and it'll move on, consuming everything in it's path. It's way too risky." Eira says and MK tries not to slump over.

"If we made it so it couldn't spread, though," Ronin folds his hands together and glances around, "all we need to do is find a grassless area, not difficult this close to their base, and create a large fire-pit. When we set it alight the Boggans will be too distracted trying to put it out to notice that it won't fan outwards."

"Where should we set it up?"

"Right here. We'll have to grab some dry grass and twigs to burn before the fire's strong enough to catch onto the log, and we'll need to dig a trench around this area to keep everything inside, but it shouldn't take us too long if we get started now."

They all set out, Rowan and Ronin focussing on making the area safe while Finn, Eira and MK gather multiple armfuls of dry grass a twigs and bring them back to the log, piling them up, and when they finally have enough Ronin gathers them together and runs over the plan.

"We'll get the fire going, make sure it's burning strong before we weave around to the opposite side of the fortress. They'll notice the smoke first, and hopefully by the time the first scout makes their way over this whole thing will have shot up in flames. They'll draw more out to stop the fire, and while all their focus is here we'll sneak in through the back. Is everyone ready?"

They nod.

"MK, if you would," he gestures to their pile of kindling and she steps forward, reaching out to touch her match against the tough surface of the log. She drags it down swiftly and it catches fire with ease.

She leans down to drop it into the pile of kindling, watching as the fire catches and begins to spread swiftly, and when she straightens out Ronin wraps an arm around her shoulders and turns her around, urging her away.

"Time to go."

They dash to new cover, pausing and looking back momentarily to watch as smoke begins to curl through the air before they run to the next shelter. 

MK hears bird cries and turns to see that both the raven-mounted scouts have flown in to investigate the smoke, circling overtop the wood which is slowly but surely catching fire before racing back to their base.

"Not much longer now till they'll start trying to put it out, let's go."

They run the final distance towards the stronghold, the smoke and fire disappearing out of sight as they make their way around, and as soon as they reach the outer wall they begin to climb.

Ronin's up first, and he runs his fingers along the wood as if he's looking for something before, with an expression that could almost be called a grin, he opens up a small, jagged door; the cracks of its edges easily blending in with the rough exterior of the wood.

"Termites," he says at MK's incredulous look, and he climbs through with ease before holding his hand out to her.

She takes it and slips into the dark.


	9. Chapter 9

It takes a while for her eyes to adjust to the difference in light, and she becomes able to make out details of the room around them. Roughly carved walls of a narrow alcove, not quite wide enough for two people to stand side by side. 

It smells strongly of autumn. Dead leaves and decay.

She used to like autumn, but she imagines it won't hold the same charm for her after this.

MK and Ronin softly tread forward while the others slip in behind them and shut the wooden panel.

There is a muted sound of commotion, a faint echo of many feet rushing away, and her mouth goes dry.

That's a lot of Boggans.

She takes a fortifying breath and Ronin glances back at her before letting his gaze linger on everyone.

"It won't be much longer before they put it out, but hopefully their attention will be caught long enough that we can find him without too much trouble." He tightens his vambraces. "Getting out will be the hard part."

And with that uplifting phrase he turns around and slowly leads them towards the alcove's exit.

He pauses right before stepping out, casts a rapid glance around, and then leaps out with a quick wave of his hand to urge them on.

MK rushes out, gripping at her needle tightly. She half expects them to run into Boggan guards right from the get-go, but there's no one laying in wait for them, no one rushing out at them with deafening screams and raised weapons.

Somehow that only makes her more anxious.

She looks around as they dash along the outer edges of the structure. The inside of the tree stump is vast, its spiralling composition making it easy to look over the hollow centre to see the other side.

She spies a few Boggans, left to keep watch while the others go to put out the fire, but they seem anxious, not really paying attention to their duties.

Of course they're apprehensive though, this entire place would easily go up in flames if so much as a lit candle was dropped inside of it, let alone if an actual bush fire got too close for comfort.

With so many of their enforcements gone to deal with the fire, the ones that are left over must be guarding something important.

The others must have that idea too, because as they near the first set of guards Eira and Finn overtake her, the two of them and Ronin silently rushing forward to dispatch the Boggans before they can make any sounds of distress.

Eira quickly checks inside the room they were guarding, while Rowan begins dragging their bodies out of sight, and comes out shaking her head.

Not the room they're looking for.

They continue on just as quickly as before, and MK's heart races when she spies the next set of guards.

They are a large, looming pair decked out in insectoid armour, and they seem to be far less concerned about the raging fire outside, focusing solely on their job.

They see them coming, and they both shift into battle-ready stances, raising their cudgels up over their heads.

The Leafmen seamlessly draw their weapons at the same time, working together without any obvious queues, as if they're all part of a hive-mind.

Rowan tosses a look over his shoulder before he joins the fray, catching MK's eyes and jerking his head towards the door that was being guarded.

She nods and slips inside, rushing deeper into the room until the sounds of the ensuing fight is muted.

MK glances around avidly, because such an obviously strong, stalwart pair of guards must have been in charge of something important, but there's nothing in the room.

It's a big, mostly empty space, nothing of interest lying around, only a couple of slabs of flat rock and some dried out leaves.

She curses under her breath and turns around, intending to join the fight.

Then she hears something shuffle.

The sound is soft, almost completely buried under the noises coming from beyond the door, and she slowly turns around.

There's nothing in the room with her.

She takes a cautious step forward, both of her hands gripping at the needle tightly to keep them from trembling.

"Hello?"

Another whisper of movement, coming from-

Her eyes drift down to the large flat rocks littered across the floor.

-below.

She drops the needle and falls to her knees, gripping at the edge of one of the rocks and pushing all of her weight against it until a tiny sliver of an opening is revealed.

She looks down through it, but it's too dark for her to see anything.

Another soft shuffle, accompanied by a groan.

"Dad?" She calls, voice catching in her throat. Even if she's in the right place, what if the prisoner in this underground cell isn't-

"M-Mary-"

She knows that voice, and there's only one person in the whole world who would ever still call her by her full name.

"Dad, I'm gonna get you out of here!" She pushes at the rock with more force than before, heaves it up and to the side until there's just enough room for her to slip in.

She goes feet first, and braces herself for the drop.

With the dim light now free to stream in she can just make out her father's form, curled up desolately in a corner.

MK rushes to him, and stops just short of hugging him, opting to check for injuries instead.

"You're here again," Bomba mumbles, and she freezes.

"These are always the best dreams."

"Dad, it's not a dream, I'm right here."

His head lulls to the side. "You always say that."

"Dad," her voice cracks and she moves in, arms coming up around him and holding him gently, not wanting to accidentally hurt him, "I'm here, I love you and I'm here and you were right about everything and I," she blinks back tears and buries her face in her father's hair, "I missed you so much."

His arms slowly, weakly come up to wrap around her.

"Mar- MK."

"Yes?"

"You're here?"

"Yes. Yes I'm here, of course I'm here. I wasn't going to just leave you." She runs her arms up and down his back, and he goes limp against her.

"Dad? Dad!"

She checks his pulse, weak but there, and once again looks him over for any obvious injuries.

In the soft light she can make out faded bruises, but there doesn't seem to be any fresh blood. He's much thinner; his cheeks are gaunt and the skin underneath his eyes is dark. In just over two weeks it's as though he's aged five years.

He's alive though, and that's all that matters for now.


End file.
